Chapter 1 From Rough Beginnings!
(Author's note - I don't know a thing about women's fashion. If Louise's current outfit sounds wack, that's why and she'll probably change into something more tom-boyish afterward. Also, this chapter might feel a bit rushed; I'll try to do better with the next.)
Louise shifted uncomfortably; she was standing at the EDEN entrance for the first time ever. The pinkette was dressed in a light pink blouse, with a dark pink frilled collar, under a short cut black jacket. She also had an asymmetrical knee-length black skirt with scarlet frills and black stockings over her legs. On her feet were stylish pink boots with red linings.
"Umu...is this too dressy?" She thought while waiting for Fukai and his friend to turn up. This friend was a bit of a mystery to her since, despite his outgoing, bright look Fukai was more of a loner. He wasn't one for big crowds or really his classmates in general. So the only real thing she could figure out about the mystery man was that he was a buddy from when Fukai was with the Demons.
She couldn't help but continue thinking, " Oh, what if I overdid it? I mean, this is Fukai's friend and, I want to make a good impression but, what if he gets the wrong idea or...huh?!" Then, as Louise became lost in thought, someone tapped her shoulder from the back, and she let out a yelp of surprise.
Turning around to see the person who tapped her shoulder, he definitely wasn't Fukai's friend. First, her brother was nowhere to be seen, and two, he was a pretty obvious hacker. He was dressed in a light blue hoodie jacket, with the hood's shade covering his eyes. The boy around her age also had ripped dark blue jeans and black combat boots, wearing a slight smirk on his face.
"No need to get so scared, pinky," He told her with a snickering tone; Louise narrowed her eyes, about to bark back at the boy when he continued, "Anyways, want me to help set up your account's security stuff?"
Louise was knocked out of her train of thought, stuttering out, "C..come again?" The hacker sighed while looking over his shoulder slightly, "Ya heard me; I can help set up your account's defense right now. It's about pathetic as it can be, wouldn't even need a Digimon to crack it and perform an account raid."
"Um..uh okay.. okay." She stuttered in agreement, completely taken aback by the hacker's forward approach. Before she could really register what was going on, she sat on a bench next to the boy. He had several screens pulled in front of him and talked her through what she should do.
Soon enough, they just started sharing small talk between the work bits, and she blurted out, "Y...yeah, I'm actually planning on getting a Digimon and becoming a hacker today." That caught the boy off-guard, but the surprise wore off quickly, and he smiled.
"That so?" He replied, "well, I'll happily show you the ropes tomorrow, pinky." He paused before continuing, "Well, Zaxon is pretty lax with work nowadays if you're free. Doubt anyone would make a fuss with me bringing a rookie along for the ride."
Louise looked in surprise; Zaxon was one of the top hacker groups. She quickly nodded while telling him, "S..sure, as long as it doesn't take all night or something, my first day of school is the day after."
He chuckled at her enthusiasm before saying," Alright, see ya then, pinky." Louise's eyes narrowed before scowling out, "It's Louise." The boy kept a smile on his face while standing up and walked off with his hands in his pockets. Louise couldn't help but think to herself, "God, I just let that guy control the conversation...Fukai would kill me if he knew I just agreed to hang out with some strange hacker guy."
(Some Time Passes)
Louise sat toying with small menu things that the hacker boy had unlocked for her before a voice reached her ears, "Sorry, we were running behind, Louise!" Fukai ran over to her; he was wearing a purple jacket with black linings over a black shirt displaying a Digi-egg. He also wore light blue jeans with purple trainers and shoes with white linings.
"Someone had to sit there and whine to me about annoying crap for minutes on end haa..haaa." Her brother panted that out while coming to a stop, much like her Fukai wasn't one for cardio. While his eyes turned to look behind him, another more energetic and playful voice responded, "Oh come on, Fuu, I just wanted to know if your sister was wearing something super cute or not~."
The person the voice belonged to was another guy; he had bright orange messy hair and shining red eyes. He had a somewhat toned build, wearing a white muscle shirt with black shorts and shoes. He had a wristwatch that doubled as his Digivice, and his eyes seemed to gain a sparkle when he saw Louise.
"Yeah, cause that doesn't sound creepy at all..." Fukai grumbled his response, but it fell on deaf ears as the boy leaped over to Louise with a bright grin. Holding his hand out, he said, "So your Louise Fukai's adorbs little sister he can't shut up about?"
Louise relented before shaking his hand and saying, "Y...yeah, that's me." This was the last type of person the pinkette expected her brother to hang out with as the boy continued, "The name's Tamashi Ryu."
"It's nice to meet you, Tamashi..." Louise nervously said that while fidgeting about, the loud boy had quickly gained the attention of many of the other people at the EDEN Entrance.
Fukai's protective nature kicked in when he noticed Louise was uncomfortable, scowling, "Ryu, can you quiet it down? We don't want much attention, you know." Tamashi rolled his eyes before teasingly asking, "So Louise, did you get all dolled up to meet me? Your honestly the cutest."
"Ah..um..., well I..." Smoke billowed out of Louise's ears as she tried to form a sentence at the sudden remark. Fukai didn't get the chance to try and knock sense into his old friend because Louise suddenly exclaimed, "Y..you idiot!" and hit Tamashi in the head with her fist.
Fukai held back a scoff as Tamashi exaggeratedly crashed to the ground and mumbled, "Good God, how did I ever call this idiot my partner." He lightly kicked Tamashi, scowling, "Come on and get up already. You honestly deserved it, so quit lying around."
"But Fuu~" he whined like a child, "Your sister's punch was so strong."Fukai facepalmed at the childish actions while Louise continued to steam out her ears with a flushed face. Then, finally replied, "There might be single hot hackers at Kowloon who'd hook up with a guy with strong Digimon."
That got Tamashi on his feet in seconds; with a wink, he said, "Alright, let's get going."
(In Deep Kowloon)
"Are you sure it's a good idea to be down here, even if it is mostly empty?" Fukai asked while looking over to Tamashi, who was at the front of the group. Tamashi nodded before replying, "Yeah, we should be good; only nutty people with decent Digimon chill around here since the accident."
Fukai slumped. That wasn't reassuring in his eyes, and Louise looked at the two boys in confusion. Then, finally, she decided to ask with a mildly concerned tone, "What was the accident?"
"Apparently, a pissed-off Mega Digimon tore through here; many people were saying it might've been one of the Demon Lords," Tamashi said while continuing to walk; Louise's eyes widened, and, Fukai scowled as Tamashi told them, moving his hands behind his head, "But somehow when I and the others came running through here, we couldn't find anything."
Louise asked, "You couldn't find any traces of the mega? Didn't anyone see anything before running off?" Tamashi sighed before softly replying, "There wasn't anything left to find...whatever was rampaging here almost broke the entire server and seemingly deleted anything in its path." Louise sweatdropped at the thought, while Fukai muttered, "Sorry I wasn't there with you, Tamashi...I...I didn't realize."
"I..it's cool, Fukai, family first, I get it..." Tamashi seemed lost before shaking his head and bringing back his radiant energy, " anyways, we should be deep enough to start finding some Digimon. You should try to find one who'd be your partner."
Fukai sweatdropped before saying, "You make it sound so easy, Tamashi but finding a Digimon like that is pretty difficult. She should just scan one." Tamashi snickered in reply, waving his finger at Fukai, telling him, "Oh, come on, Fukai, you found Loppy, and I got Rize. I don't see how your little sis can't pull the rabbit out of the hat."
"I wouldn't say were normal...especially in your case," Fukai replied while Lopmon popped out of his Digivice, materializing from a ball of data on his shoulder. She immediately followed up with, "Yeah, you and that pervy dragon are real special~."
"Pervy!?" Tamashi's digivice's screen ignited orange before RizeGreymon appeared at Tamashi's right with a comically annoyed expression in a stream of data. Lopmon nodded before replying, "Mhm, you're a perv, and you know it."
As the two Digimon began arguing, their respective partners sighed. Then, Louise decided to start searching for a Digimon, walking around aimlessly for a tiny bit. It wasn't too long before she encountered something adorable.
The Digimon was a small black blob with sweet orange eyes, playing by itself. Resisting the urge to squeal at the Digimon's tiny giggles as it bounced around, Louise approached with sparkling eyes. Finally, she knelt down and called out to it, saying, "Um, hey there, little guy."
It turned to look at her with a surprised look before quickly bounding over as fast as its little blobby body would allow. Its eyes gleamed as it happily said, "Hi there, miss, I'm Botamon."
"I'm Louise. It's nice to meet you." Before she could continue talking, the Botamon seemed to wiggle in a way that almost seemed like sniffing before asking, ""Um, Miss Lowise do you have something tasty with you?"
Louise's face scrunched at the cuteness of how the baby Digimon mispronounced her name and went into her phone. She pulled out a piece of candy and presented it to Botamon, who snatched it out of her hand in a single quick bite.
"So good~-. " Botamon squealed out with a happy sweet tone before Louise said, "Aw, your so cute; wanna be my partner, little guy?"
Botamon looked at her, asking, "Partner? Sure!" The Digimon smiled brightly before Louise asked in confusion, "Um, are you sure, Botamon?" She was confused by the quick response from the baby Digimon.
"Yes, your super lovely and gave me sweets; I wanna become strong too, and being with you could make it happen!" Louise could almost imagine the crayon-drawn flowers dancing around Digimon as it nodded with its entire body explaining its logic.
Louise smiled at that opening her arms and saying, "I can't argue with that; come here, Botamon!" The cute baby leaped into her arms without hesitation, and Louise cuddled him. She then pulled her Digivice out of her jacket to register him as a partner.
It didn't take her time to find her way back to her brother and Tamashi; after all, it wasn't hard to see or hear their arguing Digimon. But, just as she went to introduce her new friend to the party, a strong digital wave rippled through the environment, distorting it.
"Oi Tamashi, didn't you say this server was stable?" Fukai asked while Lopmon came to his side. "Give me a moment..." Tamashi pulled up a screen, typing and adjusting it before his eyes widened in shock, calling out, "We need to get going, like right now."
Fukai felt a cold sweat come on, thinking, "Tamashi doesn't usually advocate turning tail..." He responded to his friend while picking up Lopmon, "What's going on, Tamashi?!"
"Talk on the go!" was the boy's immediate response, and the group started for the exit point with some pep in their step. Tamashi continued talking as they moved, "I don't know what the hell it is, but something absurdly huge is trying to force its way into the server."
Louise asked with a stutter, "C...come again?" Tamashi replied, "Essentially, a massive pocket of data that doesn't match any known digital signature, man-made or Digimon, is trying to push itself into the server." Louise swallowed some spit while Botamon shivered in fear reflexively in her arms.
(At the Log out point)
"Damn it, the logout point's been disrupted by the digital interference, " Fukai said while having several screens up; he then stated, "I'll try and get this worked out somehow; Tamashi keep your guard up." He nodded in reply while Louise and Botamon sweated while thinking, "I feel like a third wheel."
Fukai then called out, "Big guy's up to something...it's sending in a smaller program, looking to identify...Tamashi, it's a..." Before Fukai could finish talking, a beam of blackish-green data shot down in front of them. An extensive mollusk-like program manifested, its singular eye beaming at them.
"An Eater?!" Tamashi looked surprised while RizeGreymon raised its barrel arm to aim at the creature. Louise then commented, "But weren't those things destroyed or something?!"
Fukai replied while looking back at the Eater, his head slightly turned, "More so purified the main species that we considered Eaters, were freed from the corruption created by entering EDEN's cyberspace through the efforts of the famous Cyber Sleuth Takumi Aiba. But, recently, these "fakes" have been popping up from time to time."
"Fakes?" Louise asked, her right-hand petting Botamon to comfort the terrified Digimon. Fukai nodded as Tamashi followed up, saying, "Yeah fakes, this second-rate copy is a man-made Eater program. But, of course, no one can explain where the processes to make these things came from, let alone apparently became improved upon."
While they were talking, Rize had opened fire on the Eater, obliterating it in a few seconds. Then, 3 more beams were shot down, and three more pure breeds spawned from them. "It can never be easy, can it?" Tamashi muttered before turning to Fukai and calling out, "How long till you get the exit open?"
"...Not sure," Fukai grumbled in reply before continuing, "Between the Digital interference complicating things and the big bastard trying to break into the server by force, it's like playing cornhole with basketballs."
Tamashi gave a stern nod before smiling at Louise, saying, "Neh Louise, you and Botamon can rest easy; your bro and I will keep you safe." He then said with fiery energy, "RizeGreymon, let's give Louise a little show of our strength."
"Right!" RizeGreymon smiled while replying before bursting toward the Eaters. In response, the Eaters shot several tentacles toward's Rize, who shot into the air and took aim with his barrel arm calling out, "Trident Revolver!" Then, firing off the revolver in a quick burst of three shots, it tore through the left Eater, shattering it into bits of data.
Rize followed up by diving foot first at the front Eater, who floated backward in reply. As Rize landed, he did a quick spin to blindside the right one with his tail knocking it to the side before exclaiming, "Heavy Barrel!" doing a short burst forward, Rize swung his barrel arm with all his strength, easily one-shotting the slow-moving Eater.
"Crack Bullet!" Rize flicked to the right quickly, aiming at the final Eater, obliterating it with a single shot of an armor-piercing bullet. More beams shot down, meaning more Eaters were on the way, making Tamashi look back and say, "Any progress on getting the logout point working?"
Fukai responded with a nod before telling his old partner, "Look, I have to reroute the hyperlink this thing uses to get avatars from one URL to another smoothly, so we don't suffer any ill effects from logging off while playing around a fucking planet's worth of raw...data." as he finished his sentence Fukai's eyes widened in shock and, called out, "I got it! Tamashi, throw me a URL for an abandoned forum!"
"Got it, partner!" Louise was utterly lost on what to say or do as the pair handled the situation. Then, as the two started working on the solution, Lopmon, who was eyeballing the screen that Fukai moved off to the side to work, called out, "Watch out, it sent something down the Log out portal!"
That's when an Eater spawned from the logout point, causing Fukai to jump back a few feet. Louise also stuttered backward but tripped over nothing and fell to the ground. Both Botamon and her made an eep noise as she hit the ground and then cried of terror as the Eater lunged for them.
Just as the tendrils were about to hit her, Louise panicked and raised her hand lightly, calling out, "Fireball." using her magic for the first time in years. The detonation blasted her and Botamon backward while sending the Eater teetering back. The next few moments were blurred as Louise's vision clouded, and her ears rang the explosion.
Louise's avatar seemed to stutter and glitch, a similar thing happening with the Eater. Though the Eater recovered first, not that it mattered much because, in the next second, an angry voice growled out, "Cable Crusher!" A burly arm swiped the Eater into the air as Fukai ran over to Louise.
He knelt down, saying, "Louise...Louise, everything's going to be okay." She seemed to cringe as her avatar slowly stabilized, her eyes peeling open as she muttered, "nnng...I...I'm good, I think."
"Koko Crusher!" Louise watched as a giant beast, Digimon, decimated the Eater by revealing cannons on its chest and firing dozens of shockwaves. "I...is that Lopmon?" Louise asked as the Digimon looked down at them.
Fukai nodded, responding, "Yeah, she's called Wendigomon now." Wendigomon smiled before moving to assist Rize in dealing with another wave of Eaters. Fukai then pulled his screen back up, calling out, "Just hold out a little longer, guys. I'm almost done."
"What are you doing exactly?" Louise muttered while Botamon hopped into her lap, snuggling against her stomach for comfort. Fukai replied while his fingers danced over the screen quickly, "Well, at the moment, I'm trying to patch directly into the giant packet of data; after that, the plan is to forward it to the abandoned URL Tamashi gave me."
That's when the screen he was looking at bugged out, and tons of random jibberish loaded onto the screen. So Fukai pulled out another screen while saying with a smile, "I'm in, sending it off...now!" The remaining Eaters stuttered for a moment when Fukai hit the button to send the large pocket of data off.
They bugged and glitched before shattering into data, dissipating into the environment. Fukai sighed, saying, "Right, we don't have long before it could come back." Louise and Tamashi nodded as Wendigomon Dedigivolved to Lopmon, and Rize returned to Tamashi's Digivice.
(At Louise and Fukai's home)
Louise laid back on her bed, wearing her pajamas(the ones from the last chapter), with Botamon looking worried at her. "Is something wrong, Lowise?" The girl petted the black blob in response; Fukai was in the living room with Tamashi talking over what happened; she just wanted to rest
"Yeah, Botamon...I'm just a bit tired, really." Louise replied while letting out a sigh. Admittedly the explosion from the botched spell kept her winded though she also was confused about it. "I didn't have a wand, so how did that spell even work?"
That's when a beep came from her Digivice and when she pulled it out, a text appeared.
-texting screen-
Darkrider[Hey Pinkie, how are things going? Find yourself Digimon for tomorrow?]
MegaDigifan(Louise) -[Um, you're the hacker from before, right? I forgot to give you my info back when you left, so how...]
Darkrider[Oh, hehe, I bugged your account with a bit of malware. It's nothing big, though; it just let me get your contact information.]
MegaDigifan[I see...wait, What?!]
Darkrider[Anyways, Pinkie, I've sent the URL for you to meet me for the job, I'll fill you in on the specifics there, kay?]
MegaDigifan[Al..alright, I'll see you there...um Rider?]
Darkrider[Course, and you might want to change your account name to something less trackable...not saying it's terrible fittingly cute, honestly.]
MegaDigifanb[Fi..fittingly cute?]
Texting end
` Louise didn't get any response to her last text as her face turned slightly red from the boy's previous text.
(With Fukai and Tamashi)
"God, is Kyoko going to love seeing this report..." Tamashi sighed while letting out a sigh. Fukai wanted to make a smarmy remark but kept it to himself while looking over the screenshot of the scrambled nonsense he got when he connected to the mass of data.
Fukai then looked at Lopmon, asking, "You really can't make anything out of this?" She nodded no before replying, "There is some Digicode here and there, but it's all broken and impossible to read...wait, there's one thing...the word sin?" As Lopmon read that, she closed one eye in uncertainty, following up, "I think anyways."
"I see; well, thanks for trying, Lops." She gave him a smile in return, and he thought, "So there are no real clues about what it was or how it spawned the man-made Eaters. But does having Digicode mixed into all the spam nonsense I got when I connected to it mean that mass of data has something to do with Digimon..."
Chapter 1 end
Chapter 2 previews
"She wishes to free me?"
[If you're reading this, then you somehow, through luck or
misfortune stumbled into this facility...]
"Hop on, Pinkie, we need to burn rubber now!"
"I will not allow intruders to escape with the subject - -bzzt- after them!"
Review Responses
FinchFlyingAce - Louise will get multiple Digimon beyond just Botamon - she'll have two more by the end of the next chapter, an actual new partner, and a scan she'll have to convert later. I plan for her to have 6 Digimon in the end.
123jazz2007 - glad you enjoy it
Kamecolin - I'll do my best
Vote thingy for what Digimon Louise will end up scanning
Hagurumon
Tsukaimon
Kakkinmon
